"Mar Profundo" is the first marine laboratory built entirely in Portugal

The ship "Mar Profundo", the first vessel entirely made in Portugal to support multidisciplinary research at sea, untied its moorings and was launched into the sea on April 21.

The launch took place at the facilities of NAUTIBER - Estaleiros Navais do Guadiana Lda. in Vila Real de Santo António, where the vessel was designed from scratch. This vessel will allow rapid access to the deep sea and will support the testing and validation of innovative technologies for maritime use, reducing the traditional costs of this type of mission. 

The "Deep Sea" is one of the facilities of TEC4SEA, a research infrastructure funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), included in the National Roadmap for Research Infrastructures of Strategic Interest (RNIE), which consists of a pioneering platform at European level dedicated to the research, development, testing and validation of technologies to boost the Sea Economy, and which operates mainly in the areas of robotics testing (autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles), communications and advanced sensing.

This maritime laboratory represents an investment of 869,000 euros. Its construction was financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Northern Regional Operational Program, and by the FCT, through national funds.